Western regional energy market, building on last year’s legislative wins, has launched! 

Ten years ago, legislation supporting a western regional electricity market was first introduced. Last year, I carried legislation that finally passed the Pathways Initiative to make it happen. And at the start of this month, the Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM) officially launched!

During the 2025 session, as chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications committee, I authored SB 540 to establish a western regional energy market. I worked with Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris and Speaker Robert Rivas to bring to fruition the Pathways Initiative, which allows California to join a western energy market with other states while maintaining California’s control over transmission planning and procurement, along with other key safeguards. Broader regional cooperation will lead to lower blackout risk, more affordable clean power, and fewer carbon emissions. 

Elliot Mainzer, the head of CAISO, called the Pathways Initiative “foundational” to the future of clean energy in California and the West. It’s the biggest development in western energy policy in 20 years. It passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, and received strong support from labor leaders to utilities to environmental advocates. In other words, the creation of a regional energy market is a major success!

Why?

Because the implementation of Pathways and the operation of EDAM will bring down electricity costs for ratepayers and advance California towards its climate and clean energy goals. 

By connecting energy markets across the West, California and other states can benefit from one another’s clean energy resources. When one state’s grid is under stress, it can draw from its neighbors’ clean resources; when one state is producing more cheap renewable energy than it can use on its own, that energy can be used in other states. By strategically aligning generation, transmission, and storage resources across the region, we can maximize clean energy usage, avoid turning on dirty peaker plants, and bring down energy prices for ratepayers. These actions are a major step forward for California’s affordable, reliable clean energy future. 

It’s so encouraging to see such a diverse coalition unite around the ways that the people of California benefit from energy and infrastructure progress, and to see that progress happening in real time. When our energy is clean, affordable, and reliable, we all win!